[CaptainMattJ.]

Originally Posted by Kptlt. Hellmut Neuerburg

There is that, personally I think there should be a flight simulator made for the commercial aviation industry expressly designed in how to train pilots in the "art" of crash landing (which is something most combat flight sims do already but normal flight sims do not), and another thing is that there aren't a huge number of pilots who have had the experience in crash landing a plane unlike in years after both world wars, WW2 in particular.

It doesn't matter how frequently they trained in crash landing, crash landing a commercial airliner is mind-numbingly difficult and there are very few situations in which a 'safe" crash landing can be feasibly achieved. Think about what it actually takes to crash a hulking airliner. Chances are if the plane has suffered enough failure to imminently crash, it probably has too much failure to fly properly.

Absolutely, pilots need to be trained in crash landing. THere is no question about that. But the overwhelming odds are that if a plane is going to crash, its far more than likely it's going to be catastrophic. Flight 1549 was one of the best ditches in aviation history, and all the right conditions were in place to allow the plane to ditch in the hudson. There were about 1000 different things that all could've gone wrong after the bird strike, though, especially the presence of boats, and if even one of those things happened, it probably would've been disastrous. I doubt in the air algerie flight that the pilots could've done much if anything once the plane was going down. A pilot can only realistically be as good as the aircraft allows him to be, and if the aircraft turns into a flying rock, well, there's not much anyone can do.